Rodney Alcala
Background Rodney Alcala (Rodrigo Jacques Alcala Buqour), or better known as 'The Dating Game Killer' was born in San Antonio, Texas to his mother, Anna Maria Gutierrez and father, Raoul Alcala Buqour, who abandoned the family when Rodney was very young. At the age of 12, Rodney, his mother and his two sisters, Christine and Marie, moved to suburban Los Angeles. 5 years following, a 17 year old Alcala enlisted in the U.S Army and served 4 years as a clerk. During this time, Rodney suffered from a major nervous breakdown and was medically discharged when the military psychiatrist diagnosed him with antisocial personality disorder. In 1968, he graduated from the UCLA School of Fine Arts with a Bachelors Degree and later studied film under Roman Polanski. He enlisted into NYU under the name 'John Berger' which became his alias. Victims 1968 Alcalas first victim was 8 year old Tali Shapiro. A motorist had witnessed Alcala luring Shapiro into his Hollywood apartment. She was found raped and beaten with a steel bar. "Over 27 stitches in the back of my head. He hit me right over the head in the back of the head", Tali had recalled. "I was out doing my patrols. We just started our shift that day. And I was driving down Sunset Boulevard. And I had received a call, a beige-coloured car with no license place following a little girl". - Chris Camacho / Former detective, LAPD. Shapiro said she was 8 years old when she was walking to school in Hollywood in 1968, when Alcala, then 25 years old, offered her a ride. She told him she wasn't supposed to talk to strangers. He goes "Oh, I'm a friend of your parents," and I went "oh, okay", Shapiro recalled. "I mean, I was 7 or 8 years old. I trusted adults". Alcala had told Shapiro he had a photograph he wanted to show her back at his apartment, she recalls walking up to the building vividly, but thats where her memories end. She was found "Unconscious, naked with her legs spread apart, a bar across her neck". 1971 While working at a drama camp in New Hampshire as camp counsellor, two of the children noticed Alcalas FBI wanted poster out and about. Immediately, he was arrested and extradited back to California. He was paroled after 34 months and it was around this time that he killed Cornela Crilley, 23. Who he raped and strangled with her own nylon stockings. 1974 * Unspecifed Date - Julie J, 13 (molested, not killed). After 1974, there were 7 more counts of murder that Alcala was found guilty for. * July 15, New York, Ellen Hover, 23. * November 9, Los Angeles, California. Jill Barcomb, 18 (raped, sodomised, repeatedly bit her right breast, strangled 3 times with a belt and pair of trousers, killed with a rock: posed in a knee to chest position). * December 16, Malibu, California. Georgia Wixted, 27. (raped, sodomised, tortured, strangled with her own nylon stockings, fatally bludgeoned with a hammer, and her genitals mutilated post-mortem). 1978 * June, 24, El Segundo, California. Charlotte Lamb, 31. (raped, beaten, strangled with a shoelace; posed her body face-up with her hands behind her back). 1979 * February, Riverside County, California. Monique Hoyt. (raped, beaten and killed while posing for photos, found with t-shirt gagged in mouth). * June 14, Burbank, California. Jill Parenteau, 21. (raped, beaten and strangled with a chord or stocking). * June 20, Huntington Beach, California. Robin Samsoe, 12. (beaten, raped, and stabbed with a knife). Robin Samsoe Robin Samsoe, a 12 year old girl from Huntingdon Beach, California disappeared somewhere between the beach and her ballet class on June 20, 1979. Her decomposing body was found 12 days later in the foothills of Los Angeles. Bridgette Wilvurt, Robins best friend had joined her in the beach that day. "I could definitely see a gentleman with dark hair. I mean he -- he honed in on us, like, really like a -- like a shark in the water, honing in on a seal. And he goes, "Can I take your girls' pictures?" … And Robin goes, "Sure." And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, pops up Jackie Young, my neighbor. You know, she goes, "Bridget, is everything OK? Are you girls alright?" And man, he -- he took that camera, turned his head down, and you could almost see like smoke coming off his dress shoes. He just -- he was gone". "And Robin had thrown her beach towel and everything into her bag, and she's like, "Well, I'm going to get going." And I go, "Well, take my bike and don't stop." On July 2, 12 days after Robin last said goodbye to her friend and rode off on her bike, a fire crew found the body of a child. Marianne Connelly; Robins' mother, told CBS news; I said, "Let's go see her." He said, "We can't do that." I said, "That's my baby, of course, I'm going to see her. Why not?" He said, "Because it took us three days to identify her." I said, "What's wrong with you people? How many little girls with long, blond hair disappear that it took you three days?" He shook my shoulders and the tears were coming down his face, too. He says, "There was no hair." A fire crew conducting routine fire prevention maintenance found Robin's remains in a remote location more than 40 miles from where she was last seen. "There were 12 days for the animals to scavenge Robin's remains. By the time the fire crew actually found her body, she was just bones". - Matt Murphy, Orange County Deputy D.A The Dating Game In 1978, a year before the death of Robin Samsoe, Alcala was accepted as a contestant on 'The Dating Game', despite being a convicted rapist and registered sex offender. He won a date with Cheryl Bradshaw, who refused the date because she found him creepy. Criminal profiler Pat Brown, speculated that Bradshaw's rejection might have been an exacerbating factor. Modus Operandi Alcala convinced dozens of young women that he was a professional photographer, he often attacked them in a residency and usually raped and strangled his victims with tights, shoelaces trouser/pant legs, or beat them with a blunt object. Alcala had a notable habit of torturing his victims by strangling them to the point of unconsciousness, and then resuscitate them at least once before finishing them off. Police believe the victims were posed 'in carefully selected positions' post-mortem. He apparently took the earrings of his victims as trophies. Incarceration Alcala was apprehended on July 24, 1979. Charged with * 1 count of battery * 1 count of kidnapping * 1 count of providing cannabis to a minor * Violation of Probation * 2 counts of rape * 5 counts of first-degree murder Category:Crime Category:Punishment Category:Serialkiller Category:Coldcases